Method of and apparatus for decorative stenciling



Nov. 2 1926. 1,605,368

. P. MIJER METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR DECORATIVE STENCILING Filed Feb. 14, 1924 Fig. 2 2

l7; ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 2, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PIETER MIJ'ER, OF NEW YORK,

N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE TWO-TONE CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR DECORATIVE STENCILING.

Application filed February The object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus whereby designs in color may be produced upon suitable articles, particularly fabrics, thus eliminating engraved plates and printing opera j tions, the invention having particular reference to the form and construction and use of the stencils.

A primary object of the invention is to provide stencils formed of a normally relatively-yielding and flexible material, the stencils being so treated that there will he no distortion or displacement of the design through repeated use of the stencils, and complementary designs of each of a series of successively used stencils will exactly register.

The invention will be understood by reference to the accompanying .drawing in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of a stencil frame in accordance with the invention.

2 is an enlarged transverse sectional view on the line 2-2,, Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 is a plan view of a second stencil frame having a component part of the design thereon.

In the production of many designs it is desirable to use a pluralityof complementary stencils, each bearing a section of the design, the stencils being successively used so that each design-section will come exactly into register with its complementary section. While fabrlc stenclls are desirable because of their light weight, flexibility, low cost and other considerations, they have not been satisfactory in this connection inasmuch as they become distorted, thus carrying the complementary sections of the design out of register. One of the objects of my invention is to overcome this difliculty by the method now to be described.

I take a piece 1 of ordinary cotton bolting cloth or like material, the use of which is known for stencil purposes, and I attach a' border 2 of shrinkable fabric of any suitable kind, such as muslin. The attachment of the border of muslin to the fabric is prefer ably made by sewing along the marginal lines 3, Fig. 2. I then attach the muslin to the frame 4: in any suitable manner, as for example by tacks or nails as illustrated in Fig. 2. I then moisten the muslin in a suitable manner as with a sponge to shrink the muslin margin, and I thereafter paint 9. marginal area 5 on the muslin, employing a 14, 1924. Serial No, 692,763.

paint such as white lead which will bind together the threads of the warp and weft within such marginal area and maintain the muslin in position. After the bordering operation I wash the bolting cloth in water, preferably immersing the cloth, still held within the frame, and then permitting the cloth to dry and to shrink. After the drying operation it will be found that the bolting cloth has been drawn perfectly smooth under uniform shrinkage of the threads and is tightly held within the frame.

After the foregoing steps the desi n may be placed upon the tightly stretched olting .cloth. The cloth may be laid upon the desired pattern and the outline of the pattern traced thereon. The cloth is now ready for application of the impermeable blockingout material, and this material is applied by a brush or other suitable means to the area within the outline pattern. A suitable blocking-out material is melted wax, such as beeswax, which, upon cooling, forms a relatively flexible impermeable mask which is resistant to the action of aniline dye and other in redients of coloring material. Wax is desira le when the element of time in the construction of the stencil is important. However, another blocking-out material is slow size, which is a boiled linseed oil with sufficient driers to permit completion of the drying action in about 48 hours.

The stencils made by my invention are emgloyed as follows ne or more stencils' are used according as the design is to be printed in one or more colors. In Figure 1, the parts marked 6 are to be colored orange. The parts marked 7 in Figure 3 are to be colored green. The stencils with the respective colors are successively applied to the fabric, two stencils being used in this case, and the color being forced through the uncoated portions of the bolting cloth by means of a spatula. I prefer the use of a coloring material in paste form, and the use of a spatula for pressing the color through the stencil. This paste preferably conslsts of a mixture of gum tragacanth, starch and the dyeing materials. The fabric is preferably supported during the stenciling operation on a yielding sur face, such as a table covered with felt, which surface must be as level as possible; a satisfactory surface can be obtained by covering too the table with a layer of felt, then with a layer of oileloth, and then with a layer of muslin or other washable material.

After the stencilin-g process has been completed, the stencils may be washed, with color-solvents, to remove the color, without danger of distorting the design sections, and, if desired, the stencil cloth may be removed from the frame inasmuch as the protecting marginal area 5 serves to so bind the threads of the fabric as to prevent pulling or displacement thereof, which would throw the designs out of register when next used.

While I prefer bolting cloth as the material for the stencil, it will be understood that any fabric of a-like character may be regarded as the equivalent. It will also be understood'that while a paste color is desir able, the use of a color in paste form is not always essential. I

he carrying out of my stenciling process with stencils made of bolting cloth, whilev supporting the textile material upon a yielding surface, presents important advantages in the art. Textile materials being usu ally in pieces many yards long, it is extremely difficult to make proper contact between the stencil and the textile material so that the paste cannot run between the frame and the textile material, thereby spoiling the printing. By carrying out the improved process with the textile material supported upon a yielding surface, the running of the color between the frame and the textile material is avoided, and moreover this yielding sur face presents the additional advantage that the textile material can be readily attached to it in the usual manner bym'eans of pins, thus avoiding the difliculties of holding the fabric in place when it is supported upon a hard or unyielding surface.

Having described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is .as follows p 1. A method of producing stencils for color decoration of textiles and the like, which consists in securing bolting cloth in a frame, shrinking the cloth, and blockingout the design by means of beeswax painted upon the cloth.

2. A method of preparing stencil screens for color decoration of textiles and the like,

which consists in attaching bolting cloth to a shrinkable fabric, attaching the shrinkable fabric to a frame, binding the threads of the shrinkable fabric by a painted border, subjectin the fabric and cloth to shrinking, and locking-out the design by applying to the cloth a quick drying impermeable material resistant to the action of dye.

3. A method of preparing stencil screens for color decoration of textiles and the like, which consists in attaching bolting cloth to a shrinkable fabric, attaching the shrinkable fabric to a frame, shrinking said fabric, painting said fabric, shrinking said bolting cloth, and blocking-out the design by applying to the cloth a quick-drying imperilneable material resistant to the action of 4. A stencil for the color decoration of textiles and the like, comprising bolting cloth with a design thereon blocked out by an impermeable coating of quick-drying impermeable material on the cloth, said bolting cloth attached to a shrinkable fabric, which fabric is attached to a frame.

5.'A stencil screen for the color decora tion of textiles and the like, comprising bolting cloth, having the stencil area bordered by a shrinkable textile material impregnated with paint, and having the design thereon blocked-out by a quick drying impermeable material, as and for the purpose described.

6. A method of producing stencils for color decoration of textiles and the like which consists in securing fabric in a frame to form a stencil face, treating the stencil face to secure a shrinking or tensioning of its marginal edges, and thereafter blocking out the design by means of an impermeable material resistantto the action of the dye.

7. A stencil for the color decoration of textiles and the like comprising a frame bearing a boltin cloth stencil face with a design thereon locked out by an impermeable coating on the cloth, said face being substantially evenly stretched in all directions by marginal shrinkage set up in the fibres of said face.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

PIETER MIJER. 

